Musician loses tangle over trumpet

Paris: Just before climbing aboard an afternoon Air India flight bound for New York last month, 63-year-old musician Valery Ponomarev refused to be parted from his instrument, breaking his arm in the ensuing tussle.
The clash began when French security agents demanded the trumpet be put in cargo seconds before Mr Ponomarev was to board the flight, an official said, confirming a story first reported by the Paris-based International Herald Tribune.
The newspaper described Mr Ponomarev as a Russian American who once played with Art Blakey's Jazz Messangers.
The prized instrument in the dispute was a 1961 Connstellation trumpet.
Mr Ponomarev was vehement in defending the trumpet, said deputy director for border police Parice Bonhaume.
When four agents tried to reason with him, the jazz player hit one. The three others reportedly yanked Mr Ponomarev's arm behind his back, breaking it.
Mr Ponomarev did not register a complaint against the police, nor did the prosecutor find grounds to launch judicial or administrative procedures, Bonhaume said.
12/10/06 The Australian, Australia

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